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American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia. http://www.jstor.org HESPERIA 7I (2002) F I G H T I N G BY T H E R U L E S Pages23-39 THE INVENTIONOF THEHOPLITE AGON AB ST RACT This examinationof the unwrittenrules of Greekwarfare suggests that the ideologyof hoplitewarfare as a ritualizedcontest developed not in the 7th century,but only after 480, when nonhoplite arms began to be excludedfrom the phalanx.Regular claims of victory,in the formof battlefieldtrophies, and concessionsof defeat,in the formof requestsfor the retrievalof corpses,ap- pearedin the 460s. Other 5th-centurychanges in militarypractice fit the theorythat victories over the Persiansled to the idealizationof massedhand- to-handcombat. Archaic Greeks probably fought according to the limited protocolsfound in Homer. In a collectionof essayspublished in 1968,Jean-Pierre Vernant, Marcel Detienne,and Jacqueline de Romillyspoke of Greekwarfare as an agon, a contest,conceived like a tournamentwith ceremonies and rules.1 Though it wasnot altogether new, this idea soon spread to otherinfluential French scholarssuch as YvonGarlan and RaoulLonis.2 Pierre Ducrey and W. KendrickPritchett have put the subjecton a muchfirmer foundation bymeticulously collecting the evidence for many Greek military practices, andVictor Davis Hanson has described the misery of Greekbattle in gritty detail,even while popularizing the idea that Archaic warfare followed un- writtenprotocols.3 This view of Greekwarfare dominates the field.4 1. Vernant1968, with Vernant ("la AmericanSchool of ClassicalStudies 3. Ducrey1999; Pritchett 1971-1991; guerregrecque classique est un agon," at Athensfor a wonderfulyear as a Hanson1995, 2000b. p. 21);Detienne ("Le heurt des visitingprofessor in 2000-2001.I also 4. In his WarfareinAncient Greece: phalangesest soumisa regles,il a des wantto thankaudiences at the College A Sourcebook,a textbook intended for aspectsludiques: c'est un agon, a la fois Yearin Athensand the American undergraduates,Sage describes the way concourset combat,epreuve et jeu," Collegeof Thessalonikifor their good of warin ArchaicGreece as "short sharp p. 123);and de Romilly("La guerre questionsafter oral presentations of an clashesthat were the productof mutual entrecites etait, en effet,un etatlatent earlierversion of this paper.Edgar agreementand had some aspects of an maisnon pas incontrole. Con,cue Krentz,Marion Krentz, M. B. Richard- arrangedcontest" (1996, p. xvii).Connor commeun tournoi,elle comportaitses son,Hans van Wees, and Hesperia's describesthe"extensive codification and riteset ses limites,"p. 211). refereesmade many helpful comments thoroughritualization" of Archaic land I amgrateful to the National on writtendrafts. warfare(1988, p. 18), andphrases such Endowmentfor the Humanitiesfor a 2. See Brelich1961; Garlan 1974, as "rulesof combat[battle, conflict, con- generousfellowship, and to the 1975;and Lonis 1979. duct]"run throughout Mitchell 1996. 24 PETER KRENTZ JosiahOber has made the most explicit attempt to setout the unwrit- ten conventionsof hoplitewarfare. In his article"The Rules of Warin ClassicalGreece,"s Ober lists a dozen"common customs (koina nomima) of the Greeks"that governed interstate conflict. He maintainsthat these rulesof war developed after the Homeric epics were put into writing about 700, and that they brokedown after about 450, especiallyduring the PeloponnesianWar. During the Archaic period, the rulesof hoplitewar- fare"helped to maintainthe long-term practical workability of thehoplite- dominatedsocio-military system" by making frequent wars possible with- outrisking"demographic catastrophe."fi Hanson also believes that hoplite ideologydominated Archaic warfare, as farmers agreed to decidedisputes throughpitched battles. "After the creationof the hoplitepanoply," he writes,"for nearly two anda halfcenturies (700-480 B.C.) hoplitebattle was Greekwarfare."7 Hanson attributes the breakdownof thisadmirable systemto the PersianWars and the growthof the Athenianempire, a generationbefore the PeloponnesianWar. The earliestreferences to Greekmilitary protocols come in Euripides andin speechesin the historiansHerodotos, Thucydides, and Xenophon. In theHerakleidai Euripides mentions "the customs of theGreeks" (oatv EXBNvxv voots, 1010)regarding the killingof prisoners.In the Suppli- antshe refersto customsregarding burial of enemysoldiers: the "customs 5. Ober1996. of thegods" (voCa 0rxv, 19),the "customs of allGreece" (voCa saqs 6. Ober1996, pp. 6>61. EXBaAos, 311),"the custom of all Greeks"(ov fIavrkANvxv vo,uov,526, 7. Hanson1995, p. 241. 671).In Herodotos,Xerxes refers to "thecustoms of allpeople" (a savv 8. Pritchett1985, IV, pp. 112-124. The 460s datefits the earliestinscrip- av0tozxv voCa, 7.136.2) aboutthe inviolabilityof heralds,and tionalevidence for the burialgames (IG Mardoniosdescribes the wayin whichhe heardthe Greekswere accus- I3523-525, the firstof which,however, tomed(r0ast, 7.9,3.1)to wagewar. In Thucydides, Archidamos says it is Lewisand Jeffery incline to putca. not"customary"(vo,ut,uov, 1.85.2) to attacksomeone prepared to make 479) andthe earliestinscribed casualty restitution,the Mytileniansrefer to "thecustom established among the list (IGI31144). Greeks"(o xa0roTos Tots EXBat vo,ut,uov,3.9.1)about those who revolt 9. On oaths,see Karavites1992. On heralds,"messengers of Zeusand men," duringa war,the Plataians cite the "common customs among the Greeks" seeII. 7.274-276and elsewhere; in the (la xotval(l)V 'ERYIV@Vvo,ut,ua, 3.59.1) regarding treatment of enemies Odyssey,the Laistrygoniansreveal their who surrender,and a Thebanherald (in Thucydides' summary) refers to inhumanityby eatingOdysseus's herald "thecustoms of the Greeks"(la vo,ut,uav 'EBYiV@V,4.97.2) regarding (10.110-117).On priests,note that invadersand sanctuaries. In Xenophon'ssummary of the Eleians'refusal Odysseusspares a sacredgrove of to let Agis prayfor victory in war,the Eleianscite "the old custom"(o Apollo,along with the priest,Maron, andhis childand wife (Od.9.197-201; atoxatovvo,ut,uov, Hell. 3.2.22)that Greeks not consultan oracleabout a the troublesin the Iliad begin when waragainst other Greeks. Agamemnonmistreats Chryses, Claimsmade in the secondhalf of the 5th century,however, do not anotherpriest of Apollo,by refusingto provethat the customswere really old. By the timeof the Peloponnesian acceptransom for his daughter,1.9- War,for example, Thucydides could describe the annualpublic burial of 100).On suppliantsin sanctuaries,see Parker1983, pp. 181-182,and Kara- Athenianwar dead as an "ancestral custom" (waptog vo,uos,2.34.2). Kimon vites1992, pp. 15s155. On burying probablybegan this practice when he broughtback the ashesof the men the dead,see II. 7.394-432,where the whodied at Eurymedon (Paus.1.43.3), and the law requiring public burial Greeksaccept the Trojan herald Idaios's athome probably goes back no furtherthan the mid-460s. So this"ances- requestfor a truceto burythe bodies. tralcustom" started only one generation before the PeloponnesianWar.8 Achilles'attempt to mutilateHektor's Somecustoms the onesin whichthe godstook an interest cer- bodyis the exceptionthat proves the rule.Apollo protects the body,and in tainlygo backto Homer:oaths, including oaths sworn as partof a nego- the end Zeushas Achilles grant Priam's tiated surrender,were respected;heralds, priests, and suppliantsin requestfor a truceto holdHektor's sanctuarieswere inviolable; the deadwere buried.9 What about the other funeral. FIGHTING BY THE RULES 25 allegedprotocols? Do the rulesapply to the fightingin theIliad? If not, whendo theyfirst appear? I will arguethat somepractices go backto Homer,that others are matters of tacticsrather than conventions, and that severalimportant new rules and practices appear only in the 5th century. I uZillpropose an alternative model below for the development of Greekwar- fare,agreeing with Hans van Wees' recent suggestion that the hoplite pha- lanxdid not reach its Classicalform until after the Persian Wars.l° A new, nostalgicideology of wardeveloped as fighting became more destructive. A REVIEW OF